Watching his comic creations come to life on the big screen is becoming more common place for writer Mark Millar, having already seen adaptations of Wanted and Kick-Ass come to life, with Kick-Ass 2 hitting theatres this August and an adaptation of Secret Service expected to go into production in July. One of his other titles, Superior – which he says should be in production by the end of the year – is clearly his take on Superman; a character that he seems to love more than any other.

“The idea behind Superior is very simple,” he offers. “People always said that Batman was an easier character to relate to than Superman, because he was human, because he could be hurt and because Superman is too perfect. That’s always been the big complaint about Superman. I never found that to be a problem, because I always loved Superman growing up. But people said, ‘I can’t relate to him; he’s flawless; I never worry about him because you know he’s going to be okay.’ So what I did, essentially, was Marvelize the character with Superior, because Marvel characters are much easier to relate to than DC characters, just because they seem more like real people.

“Peter Parker is easier to relate to than a Kryptonian,” Millar elaborates. “The X-Men are all very flawed teenagers and that kind of thing. What I’ve done with Superior is take a kid with multiple sclerosis and made it a magic wish story. A kid is given one magic wish. His legs aren’t working properly anymore, he’s dropped out of school, he never sees his friends, he’s just watching DVDs all day at home and he’s leading a tragic life. He doesn’t have the confidence to go out and even see his friends socially anymore. The cinema and DVDs are kind of his life now. He’s given one magic wish – in the story there’s a reason for that – and his wish is to be the big screen action hero he’s always loved. The idea of Superior is an analog to Superman who’s been around for 50 or 60 years at this point and nobody goes to see his movies anymore; he’s kind of an old-fashioned, washed up character played by an old fashioned washed up actor. Everybody’s into Pirates of the Caribbean and The Hunger Games and whatever; they don’t care about this character anymore, but this kid still does. And he gets a chance to be him.

“He goes from being this kid who has MS to being the world’s one and only Superman style character. He asks this guy for seven days and he does all of these amazing things. He’s not just walking now, he’s flying; he’s feeding the starving; he’s getting rid of nuclear missiles and all of that. Then you find out there’s a terrible price he has to pay; he has to choose because the demon who gave him the magic wish tricked him – does he sell his soul to keep this, or reject that and go back to the wheelchair? So it’s very much the old school Marvel dilemma. It’s a bit of Harry Potter, a bit of Superman and everyone like that. It’s a morality fable, really. Even though you see him with bullets bouncing off of his chest, this kid is very identifiable because he’s so vulnerable; he’s the most vulnerable guy you can have in a superhero movie, so you care about him whenever bad shit’s happening to him.”

He expects the movie to begin production later this year as producer/director Matthew Vaughn(Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class) had purchased the rights about a year ago and, as Millar points out, Vaughn never buys something unless he’s going to make it.

“We spoke to our actor about two or three months ago,” says Millar, “and he’s perfect. We’ve got the writers set up and we’ll hopefully get this filming at the end of the year. Superman in the form of Man of Steel is really going to help us, too. That idea of wishing to be Superman is much more personal whenever there’s been a great Superman movie, so you can play on that. The character’s been out of the public’s eye a really long time.

“I’m the world’s biggest Superman fan,” he adds a bit giddily. “I bought Christopher Reeve’s Superman cape and it’s hanging in my office. Superman is my all-time favorite thing, so this is my love letter to Superman. The thing itself is about how much I love Superman on some level. When I was a kid, I went to the cinema and saw Superman: The Movie like 14 times. All of my royalties went to Superman stuff!”

It’s pointed out that many writers feel that the character is a challenge to write; that he is extremely difficult to make relevant to the readers or audience of today. “I’ve never felt that way myself,” he replies matter of factly. “I think people who say that are people who have never read Superman comics. Growing up I never felt it lacked drama. Whether it was Kryptonite or Superman trapped under a red sun, or Superman facing other Kryptonians, there was always a challenge. Superman was cooler than Batman to me, because the challenges were so much more immense. Batman may have to stop a crime spree of the Joker and his gang, but Superman maybe has to stop an entire dimension that’s coming to invade Earth or something like that. What you do when you’re doing Superman is that you up the ante. To me, that’s what makes it interesting. People say they can’t relate, but if you actually read these things, there’s nothing better than a good Superman story.”

Though Mark Millar is obviously hopeful that Superior will come damn close.